How does the Paleo diet work?

Ilovepeppers

I've lost a bit of weight and have another 23 to go. However, I've hit a plateau for the last month which is really frustrating me. I think if I switch things up, I'll beat this and start the loss again.

Can anyone tell me how this way of eating works or any tips on eating better in general?

Thanks a lot. It's hard to lose 67 pounds and then get stuck; everyone assumes I must know how to kick start the loss but I'm all out of ideas!

Acg67

all diets work exactly the same, caloric restriction

songbyrdsweet

I quite enjoy it for the food. I've lost weight on ketogenic diets, 40/30/30 or 40/40/20 (ZONE type), and now with Paleo. Paleo is a diet based on vegetables, seeds, nuts, natural oils, non-processed meats, berries, and some dairy. It is generally higher-fat, moderate-protein, and low-carb. I LOVE the food. You will most likely enter ketosis, and ketones, protein, fat, and fiber all act as appetite suppressants. I find it is quite easy to maintain my caloric deficit. It is a bit expensive, though.

songbyrdsweet

all diets work exactly the same, caloric restriction

Yea yea, caloric restriction, it causes fat loss. So why not just eat 1200 calories per day of M&M's if it makes no difference how you're eating?

RonSwanson66

all diets work exactly the same, caloric restriction

Yea yea, caloric restriction, it causes fat loss. So why not just eat 1200 calories per day of M&M's if it makes no difference how you're eating?

Nice strawman.

lissaohp

I just started Paleo Monday!

Let me go back and tell you a little before I go on about Paleo. In February my start weight was 212 pounds. By July I dropped to 158 by eating clean mostly low carb with whole grains included in my diet and working out. Since Aug I have hit a plateau and my weight has been fluctuating from 158-165. I am a 5ft 5 in female and my goal weight is 135.

The first 5 days of Paleo I lost 7 pounds. The first 3 days were hard cutting dairy because I was use to having protien shakes w/ milk, greek yogurt, string cheese, and cottage cheese. I am really excited about the way my body is responding to Paleo and look foward to next weeks progress on the scale. I would really like to see the 140's which I have not seen in 15 years!

Good luck to you and let us know what you do to get over your plateau!!!!!

Melissa

koosdel

The Paleo diet is unique because it only works if you have a loin cloth, a spear, and a taste for grubs.

RonSwanson66

SergeantSunshine_reused

all diets work exactly the same, caloric restriction

Yea yea, caloric restriction, it causes fat loss. So why not just eat 1200 calories per day of M&M's if it makes no difference how you're eating?

It doesn't. M%Ms may not be best choice for body composition, but no need to make things complicated :P

Dundreggen

all diets work exactly the same, caloric restriction

I beg to differ. I am eating the same amount or a bit more now and losing weight.

I used to believe as you did. I ended up going down below 800 cals a day to make the scale move. It was my Dr who suggested low carb. As a soon to be biochemist (one more semester lol) I was fascinated why this seemed to go against all I believed.. but here it was working. I did a lot of research and learnt some interesting things, things I should have known from keeping animals.

There are some interesting studies showing obese people who are getting far less than the calories typically should get. These are not people who have access to fast food either, these are the very poor in africa. The reason they became of interest is that they had emaceated children and yet were fat themselves. (both malnourished) How on earth could these active people be obese on (I think) about 1200 cals a day?

Feeding people better often causes weight loss even with the same number of calories. I would never have done so much research if it wasn't working for me.

Speaking of myself I not only tried extreme calorie restriction last summer I took up running. I ran regularly and kept to under 1500 cal a day. I ran 5-8k 3-4 times a week. I even ran in a 5k race. I did this for months. I have lost more weight simply by cutting carbs (I am not advocating this for everyone, just if you are having an improper hormonal response, which according to my Dr can be genetic) in less than a month than I did in months or running and calorie restriction. Though once I drop a bit more I want to get back to running.

SergeantSunshine_reused

Big calorie deficit and cardio can cause problems, here is why:
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

Acg67

Dun are you saying you are eating in a surplus and losing weight? if not you are gasp losing weight due to caloric restriction ie being in a caloric deficit

and thank you sunshine, didn't have that link handy on my phone

alwardt

I hit my goal weight loss of 33 pounds last May. My doctor then placed me on a paleo type (carb restricted) diet to control inflammation and blood sugar. Since then I've lost another 12 pounds without calorie counting and without being hungry. My body composition is much improved and I feel so much better with less inflammation. Losing the first 33 pounds would have been so much easier on this type of diet.

Dundreggen

1500cals is NOT a big deficit.

No I am not saying I am eating surplus. Though one should be able to eat a little more or less and not gain weight. If it was all stricty calories in vs out if you averaged only ONE extra bite of food a day (at say 20 cals) than you needed you would gain 10 pounds in a decade.

I can tell you from animal husbandry there is a range at which you can feed where an animal will keep optinum weight. Too much or to little from that range and yes you get weight changes.

I am saying I am eating slightly more now (at about 1300 cal) than I was when I wasn't trying to diet. Just by changing WHAT I am eating I am loosing weight. Yes 1300 cal a day IS a deficit. But that should have been deficit before and it was doing squat. Just like poor people with not enough food who are obese, there can be more at play than simply eat less.

And when I went down to 600 cals a day I didn't just boom end up there. I first tried WW.. nothing. Then I cut down to about 1000... did that for a bit.. nothing. Then went 800 nothing.. 600.. and the scale started to move. I went to two different doctors to try to find out why I was quite obese when I typically ate about 1200 a day. That was when the one mentioned trying to go low carb.

Cydnie197

Dun are you saying you are eating in a surplus and losing weight? if not you are gasp losing weight due to caloric restriction ie being in a caloric deficit

I took Dun's statements to mean that she WAS restricting calories while running, but now (in a month) she has lost more weight by eating regular meals with few carbs than she did during the multiple months of calorie counting and running. Is that what you're saying Dun? And I'm guessing, since you are saying that you are eating Paleo, by "carbs" you mean grains and "starchy" veggies, right?

SergeantSunshine_reused

If you were eating less than 1000 calories a day and running then yes you were in a BIG deficit.

Once again: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

All diets work the same - calorie deficit. Your body can fight back if is too big yes. Low carb does not have some metabolic advantage

Acg67

assuming your profile is right at around 270 your maintenance would be on the lowish 3700 and 1500 calss would be a 2000+ deficit, which is quite large.

and i see a lot of Taubesian statements by you, are you a believer in his books?

Dundreggen

Sigh I have no idea where you get that number. And I didn't think my post was that confusing but I was running on 1500 cal a day.

MFP give my basal rate as 1,829cals a day so 1500 was not a huge deficit and should have been ok for running. MFP has me eating 1300 and some cals a day. This is even MORE of a deficit.

Taub, I have read some of his stuff, mostly as places to find primary articles (as a biochemist its interesting) I don't agree with everything he says but yes I believe some of his stuff. Looking at the primary research its hard not to agree with his conclusions. Hormones are most interesting. I am NOT saying that this is everyone's issue. I am NOT saying everyone should go low carb (though I do think people should not eat empty carbs) I am saying that just telling people to eat less isn't helpful. I know this is not popular on here.. but you have no idea how it felt to the fat person who did EVERYTHING 'right' kept food diaries ate 'healthy' and was still fat. I ran, I worked on farms.. and I was still fat. It made me feel like a freak and weird. Then learning how SOME people have hormonal responses to sugars it intrigued me and its working. You may not like it, but it is true.

Yes Cydnie that is what I was saying. I am not currently doing paleo, though when I go to a more sustainable maitnance diet I will do a modified paleo. I like my dairy and I do think we evolved just happily to digest starch (hence having amylase in our saliva! I do plan to add more game meats (much leaner than our domestic animals) and keep up with the green leafy veggies, slowly add in fruits and complex carbs and see where my tolerance point is.

honeyytrees

all diets work exactly the same, caloric restriction

I beg to differ. I lost 60lbs and was in the best shape of my life on a 3500 calorie a day "diet" consisting solely of raw vegetables and fruits. Didn't exercise at all, either. Too lazy.

Acg67

that number was from your weight x 14, google estimating maintenance, lyle mcdonald. and BMR =/= TDEE

as for Taubes his conclusion that CHO is the sole driver of obesity due to its consumption leading to the secretion of insulin is laughably wrong

i will respond to this more fully later on

carrie_eggo

all diets work exactly the same, caloric restriction

I beg to differ. I lost 60lbs and was in the best shape of my life on a 3500 calorie a day "diet" consisting solely of raw vegetables and fruits. Didn't exercise at all, either. Too lazy.

WHAAAAATTTT?!?!?:noway:

Dundreggen

Ah I see what you are saying. Well at one point someone suggested I try eating more (as they felt I was eating too little) that was a bad experiment let me tell you.

I do not think that its just sugars and simple starches that are the problem for everyone. You will notice I did say I didn't agree with all of it. However if you have some nice sound science, I science, I would love to read it. The best part of being a good scientist is the ability to be wrong. I do think it is MY issue, which is why low carb (which paleo is) works well for me. Here I am eating the same calories a day and loosing weight. You can disagree all you want, or think I am lying what have you. It still doesn't change that it has been a life changing discovery for me.

RonSwanson66

Some good explanations why Taubes has it completely wrong:

http://carbsanity.blogspot.com/search/label/Gary Taubes Fact Check

http://weightology.net/?p=251

http://weightology.net/?p=265

http://weightology.net/weightologyweekly/?page_id=319

thecrossfitter

all diets work exactly the same, caloric restriction

Yes - but WHAT you eat matters in regards to feeling full and satisfied. If you're making poor food choices, you won't be able to feel full and thus may struggle to maintain a calorie deficit. If you're selecting better food choices you're more likely to be successful and sticking to your calorie deficit. I also would feel like total crap if I ate my calories in junk, and wouldn't have the nutrients and energy to do what I needed to do.

I've found that once I fixed WHAT I ate (and conquered the whole eat when hungry stop when full) that my calories took care of themselves 95%ish of the time. (Ever tried to go over your calories in broccoli?)

So I agree it's about a calorie deficit, but in terms of being successful and from a pragmatic viewpoint, fixing what you eat is more likely to lead to success. Just my thoughts and what has worked for me

chrisdavey

The Paleo diet is unique because it only works if you have a loin cloth, a spear, and a taste for grubs.

Gold

What is about the term "paleo" that seems to bring out all the carbophobes?

RyanEdwardParker

Hi there the Paleo certainly is a good diet to be on. I've lost 170lbs on a diet that is very similar to the Paleo although I actually increased the amount of a fat in it coz I needed to lose weight fast. Trust me, it works and it certainly is very healthy. I never felt hungry or had much cravings during the whole process.If you are interested in what I've done please visit my site Zdiets.net

Ryan

paleoworks

It works in two focused ways. The first is regarding weight loss which happens as a result of your body returning to normal operation after the disruption it has suffered due to elevated blood sugar resulting from a high carbohydrate loading. The second is because chemical balance is restored and hormonal levels return to normal, this means that many symptoms disappear and the risk of contracting a modern disease such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes are dramatically reduced. In short it provides optimal nutrition, which results in optimal health. It is the way everyone should eat, and not just those focused on losing weight.

+++++++++++++++moderator edit++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"14. No Advertising, Self-Promotion, or Fund-Raising
a) You may not post any links or mentions of other services, websites, or businesses from which you or an associate might benefit financially or otherwise. You also may not solicit off-Forum contact from which you might benefit, e.g. "message me for more info", “I can get you free samples”, etc.
b) Requests or solicitations for donations are also not allowed. This includes requesting contributions to “pooled fund” competitions, requests for votes in any venue (online contests, etc.), and even requests for charitable contributions. As you can imagine, we have a lot of people who would like to raise money for worthy causes through the site. As much as we'd like to support these causes, if we were to allow requests for donations, the forums would quickly become full of such requests which would take away from the main purpose of the forums - to support one another.
c) Posts or messages to members promoting websites that compete with MyFitnessPal are also prohibited."

Kymmu

I've been eating clean, paleo foods since January and have never felt better.
Back to my high school weight and full of energy.
Why don't you give it a go? It's the best way to find out.
Give it 30 days and do it properly, you'll see.

shakybabe

I'm not sure I'm strictly 'paleo' but I am low carb in general, one treat meal a week including non-wheat based carbs, sticking to wheat free though for now as we're (myself and my GP) suspecting a mild wheat intolerance. I do have gluten free bread once a week I love scrambled eggs on toast at weekend! sometimes I have a GF pitta too in week and make an healthy kebab with fresh salad and sliced roast beef.. gluten free chocolate brownies are my special treat once a month that come with my food shop, but most of time I stick to salad, veg, plain meats/fish (ie not breaded, battered, coated in a sauce) and I've been doing well on it.

Dundreggen

Some good explanations why Taubes has it completely wrong:

http://carbsanity.blogspot.com/search/label/Gary Taubes Fact Check

http://weightology.net/?p=251

http://weightology.net/?p=265

http://weightology.net/weightologyweekly/?page_id=319

I didn't get to the last one as I was mightily disappointed. Do you have any primary research that disproves him? I am not talking opinion pieces. And as I said I don't believe everything he said, but at least he went though and cited real research. I disregarded all the analogies and all the anecdotal evidence (the only anecdotal evidence that matters to me, is my personal experience)

Ones that show the primary literature was wrong. Ones that show hormones don't matter in weight loss and gain. Things like stress have been shown to matter (and stress releases a cocktail of things into your body)

I only took exception to the post

"all diets work the same way, calorie restriction"

If the poster had said most diets work this way, or the majority of diets work this way. Or even that if you eat less calories you will loose weight" All these things are true. However by tossing the all in the poster is close minded and ignores the data that says its not always that simple. Anyone who has studied any amount of biochemistry should know we are very complex, and that everything is interrelated. This reminds me of arguments about s/n dogs. Lots of research shows that early spaying and neutering can be quite harmful, but its not popular so the general public ignores it. (those who do dog sports do not) Hormones are interesting things and affect a lot more than people expect. There is still lots of research going on today looking into what hormones do. There is a lot we don't know, yet this poster seems to have it all figured out. This is why I pointed out that I think its a hormonal issue with SOME people, vs Taubs ALL people.

I am more than willing to be proved wrong and go look for a another reason why I am loosing weight on ~the same calorie intake. But many here seem to go "Low carb, wrong" and simply have their minds made up. Which is fine, but if you are going to use that as an argument with people who HAVE done their research, please use better sources or you just end up looking uninformed.

FWIW I have kept horses for years. Anyone who has owned livestock will know that some are 'air ferns' and stay fat on next to no food. One winter I had two ponies, they both had about the same exercise. Neither was restless or doing more moving in their stall (easy to tell if you are the one to muck it) We had a kid who wanted to take the fat pony out showing that season so we put him on a diet. Poor fellow already got less than his naturally thin pony. Yet we reduced his food. He DID loose weight. But you have to wonder WHY two ponies of about the same size, age and activity level needed to eat such different amounts to be in optimal condition. This happens all the time, and in reverse. In the last decade its become significant as to WHAT you feed these sorts of animals, more than how much you feed.

Yet people are just told its simple eat less. And while for many that is true, its not true for all (unless they eat stupid less). So something else must be in play. Now at least people like Taubs have a theory that is backed up by primary lit. Now you can dis him all you like, but the man has more science creds than many researchers I know, and more than anyone who's opinion pieces you linked too. Why do I care what some random person has to rant on about? People when faced with science are often weird. (just look at how many people like shows like the Dog Whisperer... despite all the actual behaviourists saying what he does does more harm than good... people defend him like mad.)

LOL rambling a bit. BUT I am sick of the people who assume they have all the answers yet have no backing other than opinion. I am totally open to the same sort of counter as I am proof. As a scientist I am going to be critical. You say what is working for me is impossible, yet it works for many people. Is there a confounding element? I dunno, but you sure aren't pointing to one.

RonSwanson66

aubs have a theory that is backed up by primary lit.

Taubes theory is backed by cherry-picked and misinterpreted lit.

Now you can dis him all you like, but the man has more science creds than many researchers I know, and more than anyone who's opinion pieces you linked too

ORLY?
Taubes is a journalist. HIs "science creds" are in physics and engineering.

"James Krieger is the founder of Weightology, LLC. He has a Master’s degree in Nutrition from the University of Florida and a second Master’s degree in Exercise Science from Washington State University. He is the former research director for a corporate weight management program that treated over 400 people per year, with an average weight loss of 40 pounds in 3 months. ...

In addition to helping people achieve their weight loss goals, James is a published scientist and author. He has published weight loss and nutrition-related research in prestigious scientific journals, including the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and the Journal of Applied Physiology. James is the former editor for Journal of Pure Power, an online magazine which delivers scientific, but lay-friendly, information on training and nutrition to athletes and coaches. In fact, James has been involved in the health, nutrition, and fitness field for over 10 years, and has written over 250 articles on these topics."

And you don't get the last one? What about it don't you get? Taubes blames insulin for everything, and his underlying understanding of insulin is inaccurate.

Can you point to a single claim of his that is "backed by science" as you say?